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A treasure trove of dinosaur tracks have been discovered by researchers scouring the banks of the Yukon River in Alaska this summer. "I've seen dinosaur footprints in Alaska now in rocks from southwest Alaska, the North Slope and Denali National Park in the Interior, but there aren't many places where footprints occur in such abundance," said Paul McCarthy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, an expedition member. The scientists brought back an actual ton of footprint fossils from their 500-mile journey.

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High-school students in Fairbanks, Alaska, will combine learning with work experience in a partnership between schools and city government. Fire prevention, human resources and engineering are possible positions in the program, which emphasizes high-level career preparation.

Seventh- and eighth-graders at Effie Kokrine Charter School in Fairbanks, Alaska, can take a course for social studies credit that incorporates history, geography, Alaskan Native culture and other subjects to teach them the principles of sled dog racing, or mushing. In the course, students learn the history of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, study maps, and learn about the equipment, racing techniques and how to care for the dogs. At the end of the program, students have the opportunity to drive a four-dog team.

Randy Smith Middle School students in Fairbanks, Alaska, recently designed their own personalized traditional Alaska Native masks carved from wood. The students in Dave Gerrish's technology and art class watched a video about the history and process of making the wood masks, which resemble animals found in Alaska. "The kids have taken more pride in (their masks) than any other project I've ever taught," Gerrish said.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft witnessed a 150 degree Fahrenheit temperature increase and a massive release of ethylene gas by Saturn as the probe collects data on a 2-year storm that surrounded the planet. The temperature during the gas release reached up to minus 64 degrees Fahrenheit, scientists said. "To get a temperature change of the same scale on Earth, you'd be going from the depths of winter in Fairbanks, Alaska, to the height of summer in the Mojave Desert," said the study's lead author Brigette Hesman of the University of Maryland.

Two years ago, eighth-grade students at Randy Smith Middle School in Fairbanks, Alaska, noticed that some place names on a topographic map of their state were racially derogatory. With the help of their teachers and local experts, the students learned the traditional Athabascan names for the places and submitted those names to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which has approved the changes.